Flanagan votes no confidence in MTA chief Sander
In a recent meeting with Newsday's editorial board, state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), said that Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief executive Elliot Sander should not keep his job. The senator was responding to a question about whether Sander is working out, after nearly two years at the helm. Flanagan said, "No. [But] that's a management decision for the MTA board."
Flanagan is the new (since July) representative from the Senate on the MTA's capital program review board. As such, he will be voting on a five-year plan for maintenance and expansion that the agency plans to submit to the governor on Dec. 5.
Shown in the video in an endorsement interview, with Democratic challenger Michael DePaoli, Flanagan said he does not think the MTA has made the case for more public money to fund its capital plan, which at last estimate came in at around $30 billion. The senator contrasted the MTA with the Port Authority, whose new director, Christopher Ward, is a "breath of fresh air." In the interview, Flanagan also knocked Ward's predecessor, Anthony Shorris, as "a disgrace."
If Sander leaves the MTA, it would be a truly surprising reversal. When he was appointed, nobody seemed better equipped after his decades in government, private industry and transportation policy. Even MTA uber-critic Richard Brodsky, the Democratic Assemblyman from Westchester, has praised Sander's work.
Longtime transit advocate Gene Russianoff said, in an interview, that Sander is doing a good job despite being dealt a poor deck. "Whatever ails the Long Island Rail Road and city transit won't improve by firing Lee Sander," Russianoff said.
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Comments (1)
The article is curiously silent about Helena Williams, a former Deputy County Executive in the Suozzi Administration. Newsday has her on the front page when she is appointed, and not even a mention of her name or performance now that the heat is on?